In front of an audience

Being in front of an audience - whether it's doing a presentation,
giving a paper at a seminar, pitching for business or facing a recruitment
panel - is often when we need to draw on special reserves of energy.

NLP shows us that our bodies and minds do not distinguish between
an imagined event and a real one. We can rehearse our successes
in our minds. This positive rehearsal helps build neural links and
pathways that reinforce our sense of well-being and competence.
We can literally build our success in our heads, before we experience
it.

Part of the positive rehearsal can go beyond imagining the paper
well-given, the audience applauding, shaking hands over the successful
sale and so on. We can also imagine tapping into the energies that
flow through our centres of energy
so that this too becomes part of what we experience in reality on
the day.

We can command presence in front of others by doing the following
simple energy exercise, rehearsing it before the event and then
doing it on the important day:

breathe deeply and slowly, using our lower ribs, so that we
lower our centre of gravity

imagine a beam of light, like a spotlight shining down on to
the place where we will be in front of our audience: on the podium,
in the boardroom, or the seat in front of a potential customer.
This beam of light is our successful future

step into the beam of light and feel bathed in its energy -
feel the energy flowing through as well as around the body

feel the energy move down through the ground going deep, deep
into the earth. So that we feel totally solid and secure

Practising and using this exercise, we literally grow in stature
and confidence. We stand more erect and at the same time are more
relaxed. Our energy increases. The voice tends to deepen and grow
stronger. And as a result we become more effective, more credible
and more persuasive communicators to our audience.